Le Corbusier | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/lecorbusier
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 22:15:13 GMT2015-03-31T22:15:13Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Magnum photographer René Burri dieshttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/20/magnum-photographer-rene-burri-dies
Swiss photographer best known for iconic portraits of Che Guevara and Picasso dies aged 81 after a long illness<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/oct/20/rene-burri-in-pictures" title="">René Burri – in pictures</a><p>The Swiss photographer Ren&eacute; Burri, celebrated for his portraits of Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso, died on Monday in Zurich aged 81, the Magnum Photo agency said.</p><p>Burri, who lived between Zurich and Paris, had been suffering from a long illness, Magnum said.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/20/magnum-photographer-rene-burri-dies">Continue reading...</a>PhotographyMagnumArt and designChe GuevaraWorld newsFidel CastroLe CorbusierAlberto GiacomettiMon, 20 Oct 2014 19:46:41 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/20/magnum-photographer-rene-burri-diesPhotograph: Sandro Campardo/APRené Burri in 2004, in front of his most famous photograph of the revolationary Che Guevara, which he took in Havana in 1961. Photograph: Sandro Campardo/APPhotograph: Sandro Campardo/APRené Burri in 2004, in front of his most famous photograph of the revolationary Che Guevara, which he took in Havana in 1961. Photograph: Sandro Campardo/APAFP in Geneva2014-10-20T19:46:41ZLetter from India: Le Corbusier’s modern city, reinventedhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/chandigarh-india-le-corbusier
Chandigarh’s spacious boulevards are being superseded by shopping malls, but the lake retains a nostalgic charm<p>The lake dazzles in the evening light. The mountain range in the background towers elegantly, a rainbow gracing its heights. Girls and boys, hand-in-hand, stroll languidly on the promenade. The stillness is broken by a splashing sound from a scull, gliding on the calm water.</p><p>Over 70 years ago, the Swiss architect <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/11/le-corbusier-india-architecture-1965" title="">Le Corbusier</a>, looking at what was then a swamp, set about the task of realising Nehru’s vision of a modern India. The result was Chandigarh, a city of spacious bungalows, gardens, wide boulevards, geometrical buildings and a lake. It was a stamp of order in a chaotic India. People used to performing a variety of chores around swarming street bazaars now had their lives compartmentalised – they lived in quiet neighbourhoods, worked in ventilated offices, shopped on a wide plaza, went for jogs by the lake and brooded over life in its myriad parks.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/chandigarh-india-le-corbusier">Continue reading...</a>IndiaIndiaLe CorbusierArchitectureCitiesTue, 30 Sep 2014 13:01:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/chandigarh-india-le-corbusierPhotograph: Mark Kolbe/GettyBoys watch the pleasure boats on Chandigarh's Sukhana Lake Photograph: Mark Kolbe/GettyPhotograph: Mark Kolbe/GettyBoys watch the pleasure boats on Chandigarh's Sukhana Lake Photograph: Mark Kolbe/GettyArjun Claire2014-09-30T13:01:11ZAn awkward interview with Le Corbusier: from the archive, 11 September 1965http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/11/le-corbusier-india-architecture-1965
<p>On meeting Le Corbusier in Chandigarh, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/nov/01/pressandpublishing.guardianobituaries">Taya Zinkin</a> realises the great architect has designs on something other than large buildings</p><p><strong><br /></strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPK9wmNH_CI"><strong><br /></strong></a>The first time I met Corbusier was in Bombay in 1952 at a diplomatic party when my host begged me to go and talk to “that great lanky fellow over there, standing by himself with a glass of brandy. He speaks no English and I have no time to entertain him; he is French, do help out.” My host had not told me who the tall, handsome, elderly man was.</p><p>I suggested we sit down and asked the tall man what he was doing in Bombay. He was furious and began to unburden himself at once. His trouble was money. “Indians are cheating me. I am going to Delhi to tell Nehru. Non, &ccedil;a ne se passera pas comme &ccedil;a!” The Reserve Bank of India had raised objections to his remitting to France the money which had been paid to him by Mrs Sarabhai - the widow of a well-to-do Ahmedabad mill owner.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/11/le-corbusier-india-architecture-1965">Continue reading...</a>Le CorbusierIndiaSwitzerlandFranceArchitectureDesignPlanning policyThu, 11 Sep 2014 04:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/11/le-corbusier-india-architecture-1965Photograph: picture libraryTaya Zinkin, foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian.Photograph: picture libraryTaya Zinkin, foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian.Photograph: Hulton ArchiveArchitect, urbanist and interior designer Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, better known under his nom de plume of Le Corbusier.Photograph: Hulton ArchiveArchitect, urbanist and interior designer Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, better known under his nom de plume of Le Corbusier.Taya Zinkin2014-09-11T04:30:00ZBricks &amp; Mortals: Ten Great&nbsp;Buildings and the People They Made by Tom Wilkinson – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/30/bricks-mortals-ten-great-buildings-tom-wilkinson-review
From the Tower of Babel to Henry Ford's factory in Detroit, Christopher Turner explores how architecture can shape people's lives<p>In August 1965, Le Corbusier's body was found washed up on a beach on the French Riviera, a possible suicide. Perched on the cliff above was <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324354704578637901327433828" title="">a modernist villa designed by Eileen Gray</a>, a sleek, white ocean liner with which the Swiss-born architect had an unhealthy obsession. Gray designed it as a present for her much younger lover, the editor of an architecture magazine, and Le Corbusier was a frequent guest there. In 1939, after the relationship disintegrated and Gray moved out, he was allowed to&nbsp;paint a series of erotically charged murals on its walls, which included a&nbsp;figure with a swastika on her chest.</p><p>There is <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/images/E1027-le-corbusier-mural.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/eileen-gray/&amp;h=694&amp;w=600&amp;sz=80&amp;tbnid=7j2Dh3oU6hz8sM:&amp;tbnh=105&amp;tbnw=91&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3Deileen%2Bgray%2Bcorbusier%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&amp;zoom=1&amp;q=eileen+gray+corbusier&amp;usg=__xGT7PdklS8ko35dySMvzCPrslRk=&amp;docid=m-q9vCzMz2fE_M&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=sgTLUY2QMcaBhQfP-oC4Cg&amp;ved=0CDcQ9QEwAQ&amp;dur=638" title="">an astonishing photograph</a> of a bespectacled Le Corbusier at work on these seemingly pro-Nazi images, stark naked and brush in hand, his right thigh bearing a dramatic scar caused by&nbsp;an accident involving a yacht's propeller blade the year before. The architect never convincingly answered accusations of fascist sympathies. Apparently Gray considered his primitivist daubings a violation of her work by a jealous rival, and campaigned to have them removed. Le Corbusier's fetishisation of the house remained undiminished, and he tried on several occasions to buy it. In 1952 he built a simple cabin for himself that offered voyeuristic views over the villa.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/30/bricks-mortals-ten-great-buildings-tom-wilkinson-review">Continue reading...</a>Art and designLe CorbusierBooksCultureArchitectureArt and designWed, 30 Jul 2014 06:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/30/bricks-mortals-ten-great-buildings-tom-wilkinson-reviewOlivier Martin Gambier/Artedia/LeemageEileen Gray’s White House in the French Riviera. Photograph: Olivier Martin Gambier/Artedia/LeemageOlivier Martin Gambier/Artedia/LeemageEileen Gray’s White House in the French Riviera. Photograph: Olivier Martin Gambier/Artedia/LeemageChristopher Turner2014-07-30T06:30:01ZVandals break into Le Corbusier's Ronchamp chapel and spark a scandalhttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/jan/23/vandals-break-in-le-corbusier-ronchamp-chapel-scandal
<p>Following a break-in last week, leading architectural historians accuse chapel owners of letting the building rot while turning it into a 'money-making machine'</p><p>Erupting like a strange fungal outcrop from the top of a hill in eastern France, Le Corbusier's chapel of <a href="http://www.collinenotredameduhaut.com">Notre Dame du Haut</a> in Ronchamp has been a place of pilgrimage for devout architects and Catholics alike for 60 years, largely considered the finest work of the 20th-century's most influential architect. Last week, one of its windows was smashed by unknown vandals, who broke in and threw the (almost empty) concrete collection box outside. The action caused international outcry about the protection of historic monuments – for this was not any old window, but the only pane bearing the mark of Corb himself, a small blue square showing the howling man in the moon.</p><p>“They broke into a thousand pieces the only glazing signed by Le Corbusier,” said Beno&icirc;t Cornu, deputy mayor of Ronchamp. “He painted all the other glazing but on this clear panel, where he drew the moon, he had written his signature.”<br /></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/jan/23/vandals-break-in-le-corbusier-ronchamp-chapel-scandal">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureArt and designLe CorbusierHeritageRenzo PianoCultureWorld newsFranceThu, 23 Jan 2014 13:17:46 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/jan/23/vandals-break-in-le-corbusier-ronchamp-chapel-scandalPhotograph: GuardianNo more moon … the Ronchamp window smashed by vandals.Photograph: Franklin Heijnen/flickrAdvent calendar … stained-glass windows puncture the south wall of the chapel. Photograph: Franklin Heijnen/flickrPhotograph: Franklin Heijnen/flickrAdvent calendar … stained-glass windows puncture the south wall of the chapel. Photograph: Franklin Heijnen/flickrPhotograph: SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFPChapel of contention … Vandalism at Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp has ignited a row over its management. Photograph: SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFPPhotograph: SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFPChapel of contention … Vandalism at Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp has ignited a row over its management. Photograph: SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFPOliver Wainwright2014-01-23T13:17:46ZEileen Gray's E1027 – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jun/30/eileen-gray-e1027-corbusier-review
In 1929 designer Eileen Gray built this graceful modernist villa on the Côte d'Azur as her love nest. So began a story of betrayal, neglect and, latterly, hope… To see pictures of the restoration, click <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2013/jun/28/e1027-eileen-gray-architecture-france">here</a><p>For a place built for peaceful retreat, Eileen Gray's<a href="http://www.e1027.org/" title=""> E1027 house</a> has endured&nbsp;more than its share of violence and strife. It was at the centre of a conflict between Gray and Le Corbusier, while a later owner was murdered there in 1996. Now its long-drawn-out restoration is provoking accusations of botching and disrespecting Gray's work.</p><p>Delicate, white and ship-like, E1027 is perched above a bay on the Cote d'Azur whose wildness was, when it was finished in 1929, the opposite of the worldly charms of nearby Monte Carlo. The bisexual Gray designed it with input from her then lover Jean Badovici, as a refuge for them both, and the name intertwines their initials: the E is for Eileen, the 10 and the 2 for the tenth and second letters of the alphabet, J and B, and the 7 is for G.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jun/30/eileen-gray-e1027-corbusier-review">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureDesignArt and designCultureModernismLe CorbusierSat, 29 Jun 2013 23:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jun/30/eileen-gray-e1027-corbusier-reviewCourtesy of Friends of e.1027Eileen Gray's E1027 house in France: 'delicate, white and ship-like'. Photograph: Courtesy of Friends of e.1027Courtesy of Friends of e.1027Eileen Gray's E1027 house in France: 'delicate, white and ship-like'. Photograph: Courtesy of Friends of e.1027Rowan Moore2013-06-29T23:05:00ZThe restoration of E1027 by Eileen Gray – in pictureshttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/jun/30/e1027-eileen-gray-architecture-france
E1027 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, in southern France, is considered to be Eileen Gray's first major work. Rowan Moore tells the tale of its restoration <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/jun/30/eileen-gray-e1027-corbusier-review">here</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/jun/30/e1027-eileen-gray-architecture-france">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureDesignModernismLe CorbusierArt and designSat, 29 Jun 2013 23:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/jun/30/e1027-eileen-gray-architecture-franceCourtesy of Friends of e.1027after restoration
Eileen Gray's house in France Photograph: Courtesy of Friends of e.1027Rowan Moore2013-06-29T23:05:00ZKanye West anoints himself successor to Steve Jobs as world waits for Yeezushttp://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/13/kanye-west-steve-jobs-yeezus
In interview, rapper says he is 'Steve of internet' and that Le Corbusier lamp was 'greatest inspiration' for new album<p>Kanye West has shown he has no problems with self-esteem in the runup the release of sixth solo album, Yeezus. In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/arts/music/kanye-west-talks-about-his-career-and-album-yeezus.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" title="">an interview with New York Times</a> he said he was the successor to Steve Jobs, asserting: &quot;I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means. I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it's like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z.&quot;</p><p>When asked if his instinct had ever led him astray, as when he stormed the stage to interrupt Taylor Swift at the MTV Video awards, West said: &quot;It's only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It's only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That's all it is.&quot; On the subject of awards, West also hinted at racism within the Grammy organisation, saying: &quot;I'm assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven't won one against a white person.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/13/kanye-west-steve-jobs-yeezus">Continue reading...</a>Kanye WestR&BMusicSteve JobsTechnologyLe CorbusierArchitectureArt and designCultureUS newsThu, 13 Jun 2013 12:27:16 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/13/kanye-west-steve-jobs-yeezusThe Image Gate/Getty ImagesKanye West has shown he has no self-esteem problems in an interview before the release of Yeezus. Photograph: The Image Gate/Getty ImagesThe Image Gate/Getty ImagesKanye West has shown he has no self-esteem problems in an interview before the release of Yeezus. Photograph: The Image Gate/Getty ImagesGuardian music2013-06-13T12:27:16ZRick Mather obituaryhttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/apr/29/rick-mather
Architect known for his work on museums, he had a rare talent for making the most of every available space<p>The US-born architect Rick Mather, who has died aged 75 following a heart attack, left a calm mark on many universities, art galleries and museums during half a century of working in Britain. When his expansion and reordering of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was nominated in 2010 for the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/jul/21/stirling-prize-shortlist-2010#/?picture=365071407&amp;index=3" title="Guardian: Stirling prize shortlist pictures">Stirling prize</a>, the judges from the RIBA described it as &quot;a rich spatial journey&quot;. The commission marked the culmination of work made possible from the 1990s by lottery funding and greater private patronage, enabling Mather to demonstrate his rare ability to respond creatively to historic buildings.</p><p>The reputation of <a href="http://www.rickmather.com/article/news/rick_mather#/article/news/rick_mather" title="">Rick Mather Architects</a> as international designers was established through the adaptation of three London museums: <a href="http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/" title="Dulwich website">Dulwich Picture Gallery</a> in the south; the <a href="http://www.wallacecollection.org/" title="Wallace Collection website">Wallace Collection</a>, in Manchester Square, to the north of Oxford Street; and the <a href="http://www1.rmg.co.uk/" title="Museum website">National Maritime Museum</a>, east along the Thames in Greenwich. At Dulwich, the first public art gallery in England when it opened in 1817, Mather could engage with one of his favourite architects. Without directly imitating Sir John Soane's design, Mather skilfully added circulation space, a cafe, and lecture and educational facilities that are informed by the original work.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/apr/29/rick-mather">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureArt and designLe CorbusierAshmolean MuseumMuseumsUS newsMuseumsLondonCultureMon, 29 Apr 2013 17:02:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/apr/29/rick-matherAlamyThe Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Photograph: AlamyAlamyThe Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Photograph: AlamyColin Amery2013-04-29T17:02:08ZThe Architect's Home by Peter Gossel – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/21/architects-home-peter-gossel-review
An ambitious survey of the spaces architects create for themselves challenges the criticisms of Prince Charles and other anti-moderns<p>A favourite fiction of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/prince-charles+artanddesign/architecture" title="">Prince Charles</a> and other bashers of modern architects was that they didn't live in their own creations, but favoured elegant Georgian houses while condemning others to concrete hells. This was always strange – there are few architects who do not itch to build something for themselves to inhabit, where they can build three-dimensional manifestos of their ideas and sales brochures of their talents, where they can create ideal domestic universes in collaboration with clients (themselves) who, barring the perversities of human psychology, might be expected to be in full agreement with the architects.</p><p>They can choose, as <em>The Architect's Home</em> describes, to make demands of themselves they would find harder to impose on others. Arne Korsmo, in Oslo, wanting a wide column-free living space, made his house five times more expensive than otherwise similar houses he had designed next door. Jan Benthem, in Almere, Holland, created tiny 2m x 2m bedrooms furnished only with narrow bunks. But mostly they don't need be so self-punitive: it's more that they can get the details just as they want them, and then live in the house in ways that its design proposes.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/21/architects-home-peter-gossel-review">Continue reading...</a>Art and designArchitectureArt and designModernismLe CorbusierInteriorsHomesLife and styleBooksCultureSun, 21 Apr 2013 08:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/21/architects-home-peter-gossel-reviewTaschenThe interior of Le Corbusier’s Paris apartment. Photograph: TaschenTaschenThe interior of Le Corbusier’s Paris apartment. Photograph: TaschenRowan Moore2013-04-21T08:00:04ZLe Corbusier's Cité Radieuse rooftop gym transformed into art spacehttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/apr/08/le-corbusier-cite-radieuse-marseille-ora-ito
French designer Ora-Ïto is converting the famous Marseille roof terrace into a haven for contemporary art<p>&quot;Welcome to my place,&quot; says <a href="http://www.ora-ito.com/">Ito Morabito</a>, perched on the balustrade of the most famous rooftop of any 20th-century building. Behind the young French designer, concrete forms gleam in the midday Marseille sun: a great ventilation stack flares out like a sculptural vase; a paddling pool nestles beneath a classroom on stilts; children clamber on a mock-mountain of rugged rocks.</p><p>The roof terrace of Le Corbusier's <a href="http://www.marseille-citeradieuse.org/">Cit&eacute; Radieuse</a> apartment building, completed in 1953, has long been the symbol of the sun-drenched ideal of Mediterranean modernism – a park in the sky for the residents of this brave new vertical city. It stretches out like the deck of an ocean liner, with rocky mountain peaks to one side, the open sea to the other, a landscape of collective leisure suspended 18 storeys up in the air. And now it has a new owner, with big ambitions.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/apr/08/le-corbusier-cite-radieuse-marseille-ora-ito">Continue reading...</a>Art and designLe CorbusierDesignMarseilleTravelFranceWorld newsArtHeritageCultureMon, 08 Apr 2013 15:42:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/apr/08/le-corbusier-cite-radieuse-marseille-ora-itoPROra-Ïto surveys his new kingdom. Photograph: MamoPRPark in the sky … the rooftop of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: MamoPRPark in the sky … the rooftop of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: MAMOOliver Wainwright2013-04-08T15:42:03ZArchitects and their favourite buildings – in pictureshttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/feb/25/architects-favourite-buildings-in-pictures
From Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art to Le Corbusier's Ronchamp chapel, <a href="http://www.edtyler.com/inspirations/">Ed Tyler</a> has spent three years taking photographs of architects in the buildings that inspire them <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/feb/25/architects-favourite-buildings-in-pictures">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureLe CorbusierOscar NiemeyerMon, 25 Feb 2013 15:01:27 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/feb/25/architects-favourite-buildings-in-picturesEd TylerArchitect Edgar Gonzalez at Paris Communist Party building Photograph: Ed TylerGuardian Staff2013-02-25T15:01:27ZFaking it: replica architecture sweeps China – in pictureshttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/jan/07/replica-architecture-china-in-pictures
From a pebble-like Zaha Hadid imitation in Chongqing to an Austrian village grafted on to a Huizhou hillside, not forgetting a Le Corbusier BBQ shack in Zhengzhou – architecture copycats are all the rage in China <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/jan/07/replica-architecture-china-in-pictures">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureZaha HadidLe CorbusierArt and designCultureChinaMon, 07 Jan 2013 18:59:54 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/jan/07/replica-architecture-china-in-picturesAFP/Getty ImagesThe Meiquan 22nd Century building in Chongqing, southwest China. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesGuardian Staff2013-01-07T18:59:54ZMichael Gove's war on architecture: curves fail the testhttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2012/oct/02/michel-goves-war-on-architecture-curves
A clampdown on so-called architectural extravagance means British schools will no longer feature anything other than straight lines. Why is the joy of curves lost on our education secretary?<p>That's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/frank-gehry" title="">Frank Gehry</a> out of the running then. And don't expect to see any new schools paying homage to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/jun/25/netnotes.ashleydavies" title="">Antoni Gaudi</a>, <a href="http://www.bfi.org/" title="">Buckminster Fuller</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2009/mar/10/le-corbusier-cabanon" title="">Le Corbusier</a> or even Christopher Wren. And <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/oct/01/stirling-prize-zaha-hadid-brixton-school" title="">Zaha Hadid might have won the Stirling prize for a school last year</a> (Brixton's Evelyn Grace Academy) but she can forget about building another one here any time soon, no thank you, Dame. You might want to check your child's pockets for protractors as well.</p><p>Why? Because <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/oct/02/new-school-building-designs-curve-ban" title="">the government has banned curves from new school buildings</a>. Not just curves but also &quot;faceted curves&quot;, indents, dog legs and notches. In other words, any shape you like as long as it's a plain box. The Department for Education is cracking down on what it saw as architectural extravagance in the now-scrapped Building Schools for The Future (BSF) programme. <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schoolscapital/buildingsanddesign/baseline/b00213673/baseline-designs-cost-and-area" title="">Its new &quot;baseline designs&quot;, unveiled on Monday</a>, call for affordable, stripped-down, purely functional school buildings. Nothing wrong with that per se, but in taking his war with architecture into abstract geometrical realms, Michael Gove is revealing the source of his secret trauma.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2012/oct/02/michel-goves-war-on-architecture-curves">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureMichael GovePoliticsArt and designSchoolsEducationLe CorbusierZaha HadidFrank GehryRichard RogersTue, 02 Oct 2012 15:21:15 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2012/oct/02/michel-goves-war-on-architecture-curvesAndrea Pistolesi/Getty ImagesThe Guggenheim in Bilbao … decidedly curvy. Photograph: Andrea Pistolesi/Getty ImagesAndrea Pistolesi/Getty ImagesThe Guggenheim in Bilbao … decidedly curvy. Photograph: Andrea Pistolesi/Getty ImagesSteve Rose2012-10-02T15:21:15ZJonathan Meades: Architects are the last people who should shape our citieshttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/sep/18/architects-cities-jonathan-meades
New, shiny buildings are all well and&nbsp;good, but what architects forget about is a sense of place – and the beauty of wastelands<p>Architecture, the most public of endeavours, is practised by people who inhabit a smugly hermetic milieu which is cultish. If this sounds far-fetched just consider the way initiates of this cult describe outsiders as the <em>lay</em> public, <em>lay</em> writers and so on: it's the language of the priesthood. And like all cults its primary interest is its own interests, that is to say its survival, and the triumph of its values – which means building. Architects, architectural critics, architectural theorists, the architectural press (which is little more than a deferential PR machine) – the entire quasi-cult is cosily conjoined by mutual dependence and by an ingrown, verruca-like jargon which derives from the more dubious end of American academe.</p><p>From early in its history, photography was adopted by architects as a means of idealising their buildings. As beautiful and heroic, as tokens of their ingenuity and mankind's progress, etc. This debased tradition continues to thrive. At its core lies the imperative to show the building out of context, as a monument, separate from streetscape, from awkward neighbours, from untidiness. A vast institutional lie is being told in architectural magazines the world over, in the pages of newspapers and in countless television films. It's also being told on the web – which is significant, and depressing, for it demonstrates how thoroughly the convention has seeped into the collective.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/sep/18/architects-cities-jonathan-meades">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureArt and designLe CorbusierCultureCitiesTue, 18 Sep 2012 18:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/sep/18/architects-cities-jonathan-meadesNik Wheeler/ Nik Wheeler/CORBISArtifice ... Seaside, Florida. Photograph: Nik Wheeler/ Nik Wheeler/CORBISDan Chung/GuardianIn praise of decay ... a view of the River Lea, east London, before its regeneration for the 2012 Olympics Photograph: Dan Chung for the GuardianAlamyAtypical ... Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation building. Photograph: AlamyAlamyAtypical ... Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation building. Photograph: AlamyJonathan Meades2012-09-18T18:00:00ZSeven Years by Peter Stamm – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/04/seven-years-peter-stamm-review1
Iconic buildings figure strongly in this story of love among architects<p>The seven years of Peter Stamm's title are part of its chronology but also carry&nbsp;biblical resonances that surface in the text – the seven years Jacob worked to earn the right to marry Rachel and the two periods, of plenty and famine, in Pharaoh's dream. Alexander, a young architect based in Munich, lives through the turbulent period after the reunification of Germany, through success, bankruptcy and tentative recovery. Outside this business perspective it would be hard to be sure which were the fat years and which the lean.</p><p>In Genesis, Jacob wanted Rachel but was tricked into marrying her sister Leah, so that he had to work for another seven years to get what he wanted. Alexander's emotional life is less dramatic but more divided. While he's still a student he becomes involved with the beautiful Sonia, an architecture student at least as talented as he is. They marry and set up a firm together.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/04/seven-years-peter-stamm-review1">Continue reading...</a>FictionBooksLe CorbusierArchitectureArt and designCultureFri, 04 May 2012 15:38:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/04/seven-years-peter-stamm-review1guichaoua/AlamyLe Corbusier's Cité Radieuse flats in Marseille. Photograph: guichaoua/Alamyguichaoua/AlamyLe Corbusier's Cité Radieuse flats in Marseille. Photograph: guichaoua/AlamyAdam Mars-Jones2012-05-04T15:38:01ZLe Corbusier's holiday home on France's Côte d'Azurhttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/mar/02/le-corbusier-home-france-nice
The architect spent his summers in a tiny cabin on the Côte d'Azur – and there's not a slab of concrete in sight<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2009/mar/10/le-corbusier-cabanon"><strong>Click here to see Jonathan Glancey's video of a replica cabanon at the RIBA in London</strong></a><p>When Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, was found dead in the sea off Cap Martin in the south of France, the local paper proclaimed that the architect was the worst-lodged tourist on the C&ocirc;te d'Azur. This was true in some ways: in this land of swanky villas, the father of modern architecture spent summers in a wooden <em>cabanon</em> 12 feet square. The architect would have disagreed. &quot;I have a chateau on the C&ocirc;te d'Azur …,&quot; he said. &quot;It's extravagant in comfort and gentleness.&quot;</p><p>Its setting is extravagant. Cap Martin is a rocky headland about a mile from Monte Carlo. The cabanon sits on a slip of land between the sea and the railway, with views of sea and coast in both directions. Few who spot the cabin from the coastal path (renamed Promenade Le Corbusier) would dream that this &quot;shed&quot; was designed by the man known for brutalist concrete. Set on a steep slope among acanthus and eucalyptus trees, it resembles a Canadian log cabin. Its one door opens into a corridor one person wide, with a wall painting on the left. Beyond a sliding door is the main (only) room.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/mar/02/le-corbusier-home-france-nice">Continue reading...</a>FranceLe CorbusierArt and designNiceEuropeTravelBeach holidaysThe RIBAFri, 02 Mar 2012 22:44:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/mar/02/le-corbusier-home-france-niceLiz BoulterLe Corbusier's Unités de Camping. Photograph: Liz BoulterLiz BoulterRobert Rebutato at L'Etoile de Mer. Photograph: Liz BoulterDACSInside Le Corbusier's Cabanon. Photograph: DACSDACSInside Le Corbusier's Cabanon. Photograph: DACSLiz Boulter2012-03-02T22:44:01ZMarseille's Cité Radieuse damaged by firehttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/10/marseille-cite-radieuse-fire-damge
Authorities assess damage to architect Le Corbusier's Radiant City, a landmark of modernist architecture<p>One of France's most important landmarks of modernist architecture, <em>La Cit&eacute; Radieuse</em> housing estate in Marseille, built by the architect Le Corbusier, has been damaged by fire.</p><p>Fire services fought for over 12 hours to put out a blaze that began on Thursday afternoon in a first floor flat in the nine-storey concrete complex which is protected by special heritage status in France.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/10/marseille-cite-radieuse-fire-damge">Continue reading...</a>FranceEuropeLe CorbusierArt and designArchitectureWorld newsSwitzerlandHeritageCultureFri, 10 Feb 2012 10:41:36 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/10/marseille-cite-radieuse-fire-damgeBruno Planchais/AFP/Getty ImagesFrefighters tackle a blaze in three flats at Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: Bruno Planchais/AFP/Getty ImagesBruno Planchais/AFP/Getty ImagesFrefighters tackle a blaze in three flats at Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: Bruno Planchais/AFP/Getty ImagesAngelique Chrisafis in Paris2012-02-10T10:41:36ZIsi Metzstein obituaryhttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jan/22/isi-metzstein
Innovative architect who designed some remarkable postwar British buildings<p>Isi Metzstein, who has died aged 83, was jointly responsible for some of the most remarkable and distinguished modern architecture in postwar Britain. Under the umbrella of the Glasgow practice of Gillespie Kidd &amp; Coia (GKC), for whom he worked throughout his career, he&nbsp;and his colleague Andrew MacMillan designed a series of striking churches in&nbsp;and around Glasgow, as&nbsp;well as school and university buildings further afield, including Robinson College, Cambridge. They were also the architects of St Peter's Seminary at Cardross, Argyll and Bute, once widely regarded as the finest modern building in Scotland but now a&nbsp;derelict&nbsp;ruin.</p><p>Metzstein was born in Berlin, the son of two Polish Jews, Efraim (who died in 1933) and Rachel. He escaped Germany in 1939 under the Kindertransport scheme. The boy, his siblings and their mother were scattered all over Britain until the family was eventually reunited. The young Isi had been taken in initially by a family in Hardgate, Clydebank, and he remained in Glasgow for the rest of his life.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jan/22/isi-metzstein">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureScotlandArchitectureArt and designUK newsJudaismReligionCatholicismGermanyLe CorbusierSun, 22 Jan 2012 16:52:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jan/22/isi-metzsteinDominik Gigler/.Isi Metzstein formed a club for the 'victims of premature scrapheaping'. Photograph: Dominik GiglerRiba LibrarySt Peter's Seminary, Cardross, designed by Isi Metzstein. It opened in 1966 and is now a ruin. Photograph: Riba LibraryDominik Gigler/.Isi Metzstein Photograph: Dominik Gigler/.Riba LibrarySt Peter's Seminary, Cardross, designed by Isi Metzstein. It opened in 1966 and is now a ruin. Photograph: Riba LibraryGavin Stamp2012-01-22T16:52:00ZConstructive criticism: the week in architecturehttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/nov/25/constructive-criticism-week-in-architecture
Will Liverpool really sacrifice its world heritage status over the glossy banality of the dockside buildathon? The planners should take a look at the Architect's Eye photography winners …<p>&quot;Life goes on day after day/Hearts torn in every way.&quot; You can just hear <a href="http://www.merseybeatnostalgia.co.uk/html/gerry_marsden.html" title="">Gerry Marsden</a> singing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFaPJs43eI4" title="">Ferry Cross the Mersey</a> back when Liverpool was one of the world's best loved cities. Imagine if Ferry Cross the Mersey was remade in 2015 and, instead of the <a href="http://www.liverpoolworldheritage.com/visitingthewhs/areas/pierhead/royaliverbuildings.asp" title="">Liver Building</a>, Pier Head and working docks, the backdrop was an almighty prickle of skyscrapers and other schlock shipped in from anywhere except Merseyside itself.</p><p>More than hearts may be torn if the city gives the go-ahead to the titanic and controversial &pound;5.5bn <a href="http://www.liverpoolwaters.co.uk/content/imagegallery.php" title="">Liverpool Waters project</a> proposed by property developers <a href="http://www.peel.co.uk/" title="">Peel Holdings</a>. <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/" title="">Unesco</a> is so angry with what its inspectors have seen of the designs that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/23/liverpool-world-heritage-status" title="">it has threatened – and not for the first time – to strip Liverpool's city centre of its World Heritage Site status</a>. While in other parts of the world this would matter, Liverpool –<a href="http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news//tm_headline=unesco-set-to-strip-liverpool-of-its-world-heritage-site-status%26method=full%26objectid=29817930%26siteid=100252-name_page.html" title=""> to judge from comments made in the local media</a> – doesn't appear to care what Unesco thinks.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/nov/25/constructive-criticism-week-in-architecture">Continue reading...</a>ArchitectureArt and designLe CorbusierLiverpoolCultureFri, 25 Nov 2011 12:19:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/nov/25/constructive-criticism-week-in-architectureSimon KennedyThe winner of the Architecture and Place category … Heygate Estate in south London, photographed by Simon Kennedy. Photograph: Simon KennedyNeil DusheikoWinning splash … Paddling pool of Unité d’Habitation, photographed by Neil Dusheiko. Photograph: Neil DusheikoDavid Sillitoe/GuardianBritain's finest post-war housing estate … the Barbican Estate, part of the Barbican centre, London. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the GuardianPRMersey monotony? … an artist's impression of Peel Holding's Liverpool Waters schemePRArtist impression of Peel Holding's Liverpool Waters scheme.Jonathan Glancey2011-11-25T12:19:08Z